Engine shutdown valves are, of course, well known in the industry. Such engine shutdown valves are used to terminate operation of a diesel engine when overreving results from combustible vapours being present in the atmosphere in which such engines are operated. By terminating atmospheric or air flow through the intake manifold in which such combustible vapours are present, the engine will starve from lack of oxygen and the engine will shutdown thereby preventing damage to the engine caused by overrunning. Such engine shutdown valves are, for example disclosed in our U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,215,845, 4,285,494 and 4,537,386.
Engine shutdown valves can be manufactured in various configurations for particularly uses. For example, an engine shutdown valve disclosed in our copending U.S. application Ser. No. 07/725,290 is intended to be used within an air cleaner on a diesel engine. Other engine shutdown valves are designed for other particular uses.
Such engine shutdown valves, however, have a configuration which may be too large for many applications. Likewise, such valves have manufacturing costs which may be considerably greater than necessary.